Irish stop early TSU threat, roll to 56-3 victory in South Bend

By KEVIN WEAKS

Sports Editor

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Tennessee State had its chance to make some serious noise at Notre Dame.

Instead, the Fighting Irish quickly silenced the TSU uprising.

Notre Dame kept TSU from scoring after the Tigers recovered a fumble at the Irish 13-yard-line late in the first quarter and then rolled to a 56-3 win on a mostly sunny and warm afternoon at Notre Dame Stadium.

It was the season opener for Tennessee State, which will be in Memphis this weekend to play Arkansas-Pine Bluff in the Southern Heritage Classic at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium.

“We knew going in the task at hand, but we accepted the challenge,” TSU head coach Eddie George said. “I’m proud of our young men. We’re not going to hang our heads. We have to grow in the next week. Our bigger goals are ahead of us. There’s a lot of things we can build on.”

Notre Dame, fresh off a 42-3 win over Navy in a game played in Dublin, Ireland, the previous week, is now 2-0 and travels to North Carolina State this week.

While the Irish have not given up a touchdown in eight quarters of the 2023 season, that streak looked as if it might end in the first quarter against TSU.

After pulling within 7-3 on a James Lowery 38-yard field goal at 2:44 of the first quarter, Tennessee State immediately got the ball back on the ensuing kick when Notre Dame return man coughed up the ball after a hard hit from TSU’s Zachery Drake. Sammy Taylor recovered the loose ball.

But, the Tigers didn’t gain a yard in three plays, and then Lowery’s 29-yard field goal attempt was blocked by Jason Onye.

“We have to learn how to punch it in,” George said. “That’s how resilient that bunch is over there. They wind up blocking a field goal. We knew we had to strike when we had opportunities, but we just didn’t execute in those moments.”

After that, it was all Irish.

Notre Dame scored four touchdowns in the second quarter and got a pick six in the second half when the reserves for both teams played much of the way.

Graduate transfer quarterback Sam Hartman, who came to Notre Dame after playing half a decade at Wake Forest, threw for two touchdowns and ran for one in the second period on his way to a strong half of football, while Auric Estime had a scoring run in that quarter as well.

After intermission, Irish back-up QB Steve Angeli threw two touchdown passes to sandwich a 33-yard interception return for a score by Clarence Lewis.

Spencer Shrader was 7-of-7 on point-after kicks, and Zac Yoakam drilled the PAT following Notre Dame’s eighth TD. 

Hartman completed 14-of-17 passes for 194 yards and the two scores, and Estime ran for 116 yards on 13 carries. They led an Irish offense that piled up 557 total yards and 26 first downs.

The Tigers were held to just 156 total yards, 55 coming on their opening offensive possession that led to the team’s only points.

Deveon Bryant and Draylen Ellis split time at quarterback for the Tigers, combining to complete just 8-of-22 passes for 67 yards, Bryant throwing two interceptions.

“The decision was made that we wanted to play both of them,” George said. “We felt both are deserving of a starting spot and wanted to see what they could do. Each one does something different. Eventually, I feel we’ll settle on one, but that was the plan coming in today.”

The game marked Tennessee State’s first-ever contest against the Fighting Irish.

Kevin Weaks is sports editor for The Messenger in Union City. He can be reached via email at kweaks@ucmessenger.com.